Small sample sizes aside, Marson has been the better offensive catcher. And Coste’s struggles go beyond standing at the plate – look no further than his misguided throw to second on a bunt attempt yesterday. That throw resulted in no outs and became the lone run given up by Jamie Moyer. A catcher who attempts to do more than required usually fails.

Should Marson get the lion’s share of time behind the plate against the Nationals, we’ll be seeing the transition in effect. When Carlos Ruiz returns from his injury (he went 1-for-3 behind the plate Sunday for the IronPigs), it’s possible Marson could stay north (though unlikely still); most evident, however: The probability of losing maybe Ruiz after this season could be higher.

Coste’s story is great, but I think we’re coming to the last chapter… Don’t want to see Ruiz go, I love him behind the plate. Until Marson proves he can handle the pitching staff, I’m sticking with Chooch.

It looks as if people here are marching in tune to the pied piper (Tim) with a implied message; To keep Marson and dump Coste. 😉

C’mon, get real. Charlie Manuel already stated that Marson is serving as temporary back-up until Ruiz returns. Manuel said that 22 year old Marson would benefit more by returning to Lehigh Valley and play regularly. It’s obvious Manual wants experience behind the plate with Ruiz and Coste. Battery mates that Phillies starters are most comfortable with. By the way, great job by Coste with Moyer yesterday and also in blocking those nasty sliders in dirt by Lidge the other day.

chooch is the starter. with that being said, you don’t want marson playing twice a week, when he could clearly use the AAA seasoning for his bat (as others have said). he goes down when ruiz returns, and coste will be his backup.

i agree coste has been dissappointing, but his catching hasn’t been atrocious, he just can’t hit a baseball if his life depended on it right now.

What has Marson done at the plate to make people comfortable and saying that he can “hit .300”

He’s been gunning down guys on the bases.. true.

He’s always been awkwardly back-handing balls.. and seemed to have a lot of trouble with Myers’ pitches on Friday.. At the plate he was very late and really, to me, looks like he needs regular at-bats at AAA before we’re ready to play him here.

He’s a lot closer to being ready than I though.. but he’s still a long way from being overall Better than Carlos Ruiz.. just because he may be the Catcher of the future, doesn’t mean you should try to force him into the major league lineup now

Marson has shown a good arm but I do not think he has the cofidence of the pitchers, they shake him off an awful lot, and other then his arm has been mediocore at best behind the plate IMO. Saying that I think you have to wonder if playing once or twice a week in the Bigs will help him more or will playing everyday in AAA. personally I like to keep the same roster for longer than 3 weeks before making changes especially for a 22 year old

And so, what I think happened this weekend, is that Jamie didn’t want Marson behind the plate on Sunday, or Charlie/Rich Dubee didn’t trust Marson behind the plate with Jamie. Either way, they didn’t want to start Coste Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, so Lou caught two in a row.

Marson’s doing a fine job at the plate and has definitely improved his odds for the long term, but he doesn’t seem to handle the pitching staff very well yet. For example, Myers and he just couldn’t get on the same page on Friday.

Give Marson some more time in Lehigh Valley learning to handle a staff, and I think you’re looking at the starter in April 2010.

One thing Marson has done since his call up is that he looks like he belongs with the Phillies. He hasn’t been remarkable at the plate but has been great defensively. I would keep both him and Coste though and DFA Cairo. He’s an automatic out.

Marson isn’t batting .333…It’s actually .286. Honestly I like Marson a lot, but he honestly hasn’t been too impressive yet. At this point I would say that Ruiz hasn’t lost his starting role, and as much as I like Coste, and his ”feel good story”, he’s been horrible so far this season, and I think he could possibly get demoted, or traded by the all-star break…Or either serve off the bench, and get rid of Cairo cause he absoltely SUCKS, and hes wasting up room on the roster. I’d still like to see them dump Cairo, and call up Mayberry, and send Coste back down to AAA

I like the look and youth of Marson, but he’s still got a ways to go before beat Ruiz for the job. He needs to learn how to work with the picthers, especially when they get in a jam (I’m looking at you here Myers!)

This weekend was a nice push for the kid, but Manuel had said he was goign to do this, as he didn’t want to have Coste (and his 33 year old rookie knees) catch a Saturday night game, followed by a Sunday Day game.

I think in 2 years we’ll see Marson in the line up probably more than we see Coste now…but not for two years.